I don't really have much to introduce here. I hope y'all continue to enjoy my story.
"Augustus my baby!" shouted a frightened Mrs. Gloop.
All eyes had turned to the chocolate river and the large figure struggling to stay above the surface.
"He can't swim! Do something!" she frantically continued.
"Augustus! Here, grab this!" called Charlie as he dipped a fallen candy tree branch into the river. Augustus was able to grab on but Charlie was too weak to pull him back to shore and the branch broke.
"You'd think a boy of that size would just float," chuckled Veruca, appalling herself.
The scene was chaotic and Wonka wasn't doing anything to help. Violet had rushed to grab Charlie so he wouldn't fall into the river as well, and all the while Mrs. Gloop was loudly crying.
As for Augustus, he was terrified. He had never been so frightened in his entire life. He'd never learned to swim because his public pool was always crowded with the kids who ostracized him but now he was drowning because of it. And then he had hoped he was going to be saved by the little boy, but had known all along it would take more than a skinny eight year-old to pull himself out if the river.
Then, out of nowhere, he started sinking faster and he felt himself being dragged beneath the surface by a strong force. He held his breath and prayed to God and then miraculously found himself with air again, but he was lodged in a tube and couldn't move. After his first relieved breath he began to panic again. The tube was trying to suck him up, but he was too big to fit. Facing the shore, he saw the scared face of his mother, the shockingly calm face of Wonka, and the apparently judgmental and entertained faces of the other guests.
And then as Augustus was being slowly and painfully sucked up the pipe, a bunch of little men with green hair emerged and began to sing. Augustus couldn't hear them, but he could tell by their actions that the were mocking him. Looking back onto the shore, he could see his mother on her knees praying but everyone else was watching the little men's performance, occasionally glancing at him, and smiling at what was happening. For the first time in six years, Augustus cried in public. Then, with a great force, Augustus was sucked completely up the pipe and into a new chocolate covered chamber.
The second Augustus had been sucked up the pipe and Mrs. Gloop had been hysterically escorted away, Wonka and his group continued to the next room. Veruca followed in the back and threw up behind a candy tree before catching up to the group. She couldn't stop thinking about the song the strange little men had been singing and the image of Augustus's body smooshed disgracefully against the glass tube, exposed for everyone to see. It could have easily been her in his place she thought.
"No, I would have fit through the tube," she whispered to herself (out loud for extra reassurance but quietly so that no one else would hear).
Still she couldn't get his image out if her mind. His face had looked so scared and sad, and she was sure she had seen him crying. Why hadn't Wonka done something sooner to save him? The boy was fat but not mean and he had done nothing to break the rules. Was his gluttony alone justification for him being made into a special and his tournament trivialized?
It could have been you, Veruca thought again.
Charlie was scared and sad. He had been having fun with Augustus, he didn't mean for him to fall. Luckily, Charlie had his grandpa there to assure him that Augustus's accident had not been his own fault and not Charlie's.
"If he had known how to swim, he would never have been in danger," Charlie's grandpa reasoned. That made Charlie feel better.
Mike wanted to go after Gloop and his mother to make sure they were okay. He didn't like Mr. Wonka's inaction, and he didn't like what he heard the little boy's grandpa telling his grandchild. Did no one care about what happened to Augustus? Mike kept quiet though and reluctantly followed the rest of the group.
Violet didn't know what had just happened but she supposed it had somehow been Augustus's fault. And to think, little Charlie could have drowned too. Augustus had been a bad influence on the little boy and that made Violet mad. To add, it had been awkward and gross having to watch Augustus's disgusting body slide arduously up the tube.
